The present invention concerns portable outdoor enclosures, and more particularly relates to hunting blinds.
Duck and goose hunting require that a hunter be well-hidden until the game are within range of a good shot, and further require that the hunter be able to quickly stand up, aim and take his shot without visual or physical obstruction. Some duck and goose hunting blinds have been made with pop-open covers for this purpose. Some more advanced hunting blinds include a latch or other mechanism that the hunter must hit or release to cause the cover to open. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,848,352, 3,622,201, and 3,848,352. A problem is that, when a hunter is focusing on his incoming prey, any distraction or secondary motion such as to release a latch or to push on a hood is distracting, and takes away from the hunter""s focus. Further, any latch (or release mechanism) that requires a hunter to touch it necessarily forces the hunter to take his hand off of his gun, focus on and touch the latch to release it, and then re-grip his gun. This takes away from the hunter""s timing and concentration, resulting in poor aiming and inconsistent shooting. It is very important that the cover, once released, move out of the way of a clear gunshot with substantial speed, so that the game does not have time to react and change direction before the hunter can shoot. Still further, hunters often have strong preferences and desires concerning what their hunting blind looks like and the options that it has. At a minimum, most hunters desire their hunting blinds to be portable, durable, collapsible for compact carriage, comfortable for use during several hours at a time, and adaptable to different land and weather conditions. Further, given the competitive market for such products, hunters desire hunting blinds that are well-camouflaged, light-weight, fast-acting, cost-effective, flexible in use, adaptable for different hunting conditions and hunter preferences, that are available with options permitting use on dry, muddy, or marshy areas, and that are easy to assemble and disassemble without losing pieces or losing significant hunting time.
Accordingly, an apparatus is desired solving the aforementioned problems and having the aforementioned advantages.
In one aspect of the present invention, a covered apparatus includes a body-supporting member defining a seating area, and a hood operably supported over the seating area for movement between a hiding position where the hood is located over and hides the seating area and an open position where the hood is moved to uncover the seating area. A link-and-bias mechanism is operably connected to the hood to automatically move the hood toward the open position when a hunter removes his weight from the seat.
In another aspect of the present invention, a blind includes a base, an upright tubular frame supported on the base, and a seat supported on the base and the upright tubular frame. A hood is supported on the upright frame over the seat for movement between a hiding position where the hood is located over the seat and an open position where the hood is not located over the seat. A latch is attached to the upright tubular frame proximate the seat, and a cable that extends at least in part through the tubular frame to connect the hood to the latch.
In another aspect of the present invention, a blind includes a base with struts and a Z-shaped frame supported on the base. The frame has a vertical bottom post, a vertical top post, and an offset section connecting the top and bottom posts, with one of the top post, the bottom post, and the offset section including a releasable latch. A hood is operably connected to and supported for movement on the top post. A seat is supported in a balanced position over the vertical bottom post and includes a front section supported by the struts and a rear section supported by the base and connected to the releasable latch.
In still another aspect of the present invention, a blind includes a base, and a hood operably supported by the base for movement between a hiding position over the base and an uncovered position revealing the base. The base includes a plurality of horizontally-oriented radially-extending tubes with square cross sections. A plurality of elongated rods are provided with mating cross sections shaped to telescope into the tubes, with the rods having an outer end configured to stably engage a ground surface when the rods are telescoped into the tubes.
These and other aspects, objects, and features of the present invention will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art upon studying the following specification, claims, and appended drawings.